It was the most memorable Ukrainian summit meeting since Yalta.Indiana midfielder Yuri Lavrinenko had just scored a goal offtwo breathtaking passes from his countrymen, forwards AlekseyKorol and Dema Kovalenko, to give the Hoosiers a 2-0 lead overStanford in the 20th minute of Sunday's NCAA championship inRichmond, and now the trio was celebrating in front of theCardinal goal. "Davai! Eshche odin!" Lavrinenko screamed inRussian. Translation: "Come on! One more!"

Korol obliged, scoring Indiana's final goal (Kovalenko had theother) in a 3-1 rout that gave the Hoosiers their fourthnational title and provided one more plot twist in the saga ofthe three Ukrainians. In 1992, at age 14, they moved to theRochester, N.Y., area to live with families who had invited themto stay the previous year, when their Dynamo Kiev youth teamvisited for a tournament. "There was a lot of violence andcorruption back home," says Korol, "and not a lot to lookforward to."

Kovalenko remembers the day in 1986 when the world's worstnuclear accident took place in Chernobyl, 100 miles north ofKiev. "We had a game the day it blew up," he says. "Thegovernment didn't even tell us. When we found out two dayslater, my parents sent me to my grandparents' house on the BlackSea for two months." Five years later Lavrinenko's father,Vladimir, died at age 53 of leukemia, which was thought to becaused by the Chernobyl fallout.

The Ukrainians spoke almost no English when they arrived in theU.S. on student visas, but they now sound almost like nativeHoosiers. Korol watched a Beavis-load of MTV to learn about hisnew culture, and all three have become enamored of thetraditional American sports. What's more, each one was named tothe 1998 Big Ten All-Academic team; Korol and Kovalenko major insports management, while Lavrinenko is a classical studies major.

They're also magnificent soccer players. Kovalenko, a daredevilwith the ball, is the best pro prospect. (He turned down anoffer to join MLS's Project-40 development program last year.)Korol, the fastest and most athletic, improved his finishingtouch this season--he led the Hoosiers with 17 goals--and couldalso play in MLS. Lavrinenko, a cerebral playmaker, has anoutside shot at the pros.

All three are thinking about becoming U.S. citizens. Last summerKovalenko returned from his first visit back to Ukraine withhorror stories about its professional league. "The players getpaid four months late, they live in apartments without TV, andsometimes they have no hot water," he says. "I'm used to havinghot water now."

Kovalenko says he will probably skip his final year inBloomington to join MLS. But Korol and Lavrinenko were adamanton Sunday about their senior-year plans: Eshche odin. One more.

MLS's Carlos LlamosaCLEANING UP FOR D.C. UNITED

When D.C. United upset Rio de Janeiro's Vasco da Gama 2-0 to winthe Interamerican Cup (the Western Hemisphere club championship)on Dec. 5, soccer mavens around the world were shocked. Vasco,after all, started all but one of the players who had lost 2-1to Real Madrid four days earlier in the final of the world clubchampionship. Yet as jaw-dropping as United's victory may havebeen, it was no more remarkable than the odyssey of its bestplayer in that game, defender Carlos Llamosa.

A native of Palmira, Colombia, Llamosa, 29, played in theColombian second division between 1986 and '90. A year later,after being released from his club, he moved to New York City tojoin seven of his 11 siblings. For the next four years Llamosawas out of professional soccer, working as a janitor at theWorld Trade Center and playing for amateur clubs with names suchas La Pequena Colombia and the Brooklyn Italians. "If I wasworking the eight-to-five day shift, I would train during theevenings," he says, "but when I was on the five-to-two lateshift it was much more difficult because I was often trainingalone in the mornings."

The day shift, however, almost proved hazardous to Llamosa'shealth. At 12:18 p.m. on Feb. 26, 1993, he happened to be eatinglunch with a coworker at a restaurant a block away whenterrorist bombs exploded at the World Trade Center, killing sixpeople. "When we realized what had happened, we came back andsaw everyone leaving," Llamosa says. "I knew one of the men whodied."

Llamosa did janitorial work until 1996, when he began to make aname for himself with the New York Centaurs of the A-League, theU.S. second division. After being voted to the league's Best 11,he was invited to an MLS combine in January '97. United selectedLlamosa in that year's supplemental draft, and he has been aregular ever since. Says U.S. team and former United coach BruceArena, "He has all the qualities that good defenders need: Hecan pick up plays, cut off passes, beat players to balls. He'sgot great instincts."

These days Llamosa also has a U.S. passport, having taken thecitizenship oath in October. Last month he made his firstappearance for the national team, against Australia. "It is mydream to play in the 2002 World Cup," says Llamosa. "I amextremely proud to be playing for my new country."

California Keeper AbroadHE'D RATHER PLAY FOR NORWAY

On most Saturdays, Per Baardsen of Lafayette, Calif., risesbefore dawn and drives 20 miles west to a crowded San Franciscowatering hole called Mad Dog in the Fog. Relax: Baardsen isn't aprime candidate for a 12-step program. He's just watching thesatellite broadcasts of the games of the storied English clubTottenham Hotspur, for which his son, Espen, 21, a born-and-bredCalifornian, has spent most of this season starting in goal.

"I thought I'd get a chance at Tottenham," says Espen, "but Inever thought everything would work out this quickly." He begantraining at age 14 with Tottenham's youth team every summerafter being discovered at a camp in Norway (his parents' nativecountry) by former Tottenham and Norwegian team goalkeeper ErikThorstvedt. Before his senior year at Acalanes High inLafayette, Baardsen signed a three-year contract with Spurs,even though he received no assurances of playing time.

The gamble paid off immediately. When the 6'5" Baardsen joinedTottenham after his '96 high school graduation, then-coach JerryFrancis surprised everyone by anointing him his No. 2 keeper.Baardsen made his Premier League debut to rave reviews againstLiverpool in April '97 and since then has played in 28 games. Hehopes to sign a five-year deal from Spurs worth almost $4 million.

So when will Baardsen suit up for the U.S.? Well, never. Afterspending time in the American Olympic development program andtraining with the U.S. under-20 team in 1996, he decided to playinternationally for Norway. The reasons: Competition forNorway's keeper position was wide open, whereas Kasey Keller andBrad Friedel had a stranglehold on the American team's goal;Baardsen didn't want to jeopardize his club standing by leavingTottenham on long trips for World Cup qualifiers in the WesternHemisphere; and perhaps most important, says Baardsen, "inNorway the national team players are stars. There's not the sameinterest in the States."

Baardsen found that out last summer, when he was swamped withattention after making Norway's World Cup team as its No. 3netminder and being voted outstanding goalkeeper at last May'sunder-21 European Championship. In September he got his firstnational team start at a Euro 2000 qualifier against Latvia, andwhile Norway lost 3-1, Baardsen knows he'll get plenty morechances. Thorstvedt, after all, is Norway's goalkeepers coach.

COLOR PHOTO: GEORGE TIEDEMANN Indiana's speedy Korol, here marked by Shan Gaw, was the tournament's offensive MVP. [Aleksey Korol and Shan Gaw in game]COLOR PHOTO: ACTION IMAGES At age 21, Baardsen has risen to the challenge of protecting Tottenham's goal. [Per Baardsen and others in game]

Before he became the premier postseason performer of his generation, the Patriots icon was a middling college quarterback who invited skepticism, even scorn, from fans and his coaches. That was all—and that was everything